Dr. med. Paul Hirsch-Mamroth
- Karlsruhe, 20.10.1880
- Quito, Ecuador, 19.03.1961
- Member since 1926
- Escaped to Ecuador in 1939
- Berlin
- Specialist in gastrointestinal and metabolic diseases
Education and Places of Work
Paul Hirsch-Mamroth studied medicine in Heidelberg, where he passed the state exam in 1904 and received his doctorate the same year. He received his licence to practise medicine in 1905.
He settled in Berlin as a specialist for gastrointestinal and metabolic diseases in private practice, which included an outpatient clinic. He ran the practice together with Professor Heinrich Rosin from 1925. Hirsch-Mamroth was part of the close circle of students and friends of Ismar Boas.
Hirsch-Mamroth actively participated in the First World War as a staff physician with distinction.
His scientific work included methodological questions of pepsin determination and the new oral antidiabetic drug synthalin. He acquired special expertise in the technique of rectoscopy.
Hirsch-Mamroth was an independent medical examiner at AEG and was entrusted with the pre-employment examinations of AEG employees.
After 1933
Hirsch-Mamroth purchased and took over the property and clinic at Achenbachstrasse 15 in Berlin from its previous owner, Alfred John Alexander. The purchase contract is dated 1 February 1937. The clinic was one of the few Berlin institutions of that time in which Jewish prisoners released from the early concentration camps were treated.
His licence to practise medicine was revoked on 30 September 1938.
Escape to Portugal in 1939 and to Ecuador in 1941
Hirsch-Mamroth fled Germany in 1939, initially to Portugal. He was in Lisbon from 1939 to 1941, waiting for an opportunity to leave for South America. He was able to obtain a visa for Ecuador for himself and his family in 1941.
He first reached New York on a transit visa. Three months later, he and his family were able to continue their journey to Quito, Ecuador.
In Ecuador, Hirsch-Mamroth never obtained a licence to practise medicine and provided unpaid and unofficial medical care for friends, relatives, and members of the Jewish and German communities in Quito.
Paul Hirsch-Mamroth died in Quito, Ecuador, in March 1961 at the age of 80.
Acknowledgements
We are very grateful to the lawyer John Traubner, Frankfurt am Main, grandson of Paul Hirsch-Mamroth, for providing us with the photographs.
Article by Harro Jenss, MD, Worpswede, Germany. As of 14.7.2022
Translation by Rachel Hinterthan – Nizan. As of 25.7.2022
Sources and Further Reading
Sources
